


Searching for Speedsters

by ImaKaraTabiHe



Series: Speedster Family [11]
Category: Justice League - All Media Types, Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Aliens, Attempt at Humor, Humor, Kidnapping, Mystery, Surprise Ending, Worry, funny ending, speedsters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-28
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-06-05 03:38:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6687676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImaKaraTabiHe/pseuds/ImaKaraTabiHe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Speedsters are always coming and going, there one minute, gone the next, but when they disappear and don't come back, everyone notices.  That's when they panic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Vanishing

It's in the middle of a battle with the Rogues when Kid Flash vanishes.

“What the shit!?” Heatwave booms, eyes wide and body frozen as he stares at the empty space where Kid Flash used to be.

Everyone, Young Justice and Rogues alike, have stilled and the entire area is so silent you could hear a slice of pizza go splat on the sidewalk.

“Miss M, where is he,” Robin asks, shattering the eerie silence. Miss M's eyes glow as she searches mentally. It's five agonizing minutes before her shoulders slump and she looks at them with a panicked look.

“I don't know. He's just… gone.”

When Jay Garrick disappears, he's having a snack with his wife.

Joan scowls fondly as she notices the platter with her favorite cheese biscuits is empty. “Jay Garrick, I told you not to eat them all!” Her eyes sweep the surrounding living room and seeing no one, she frowns.

“Jay?” She calls a little louder. He's always come when she's called for him and he would've told her if he was going out for whatever reason. After ten minutes of calling for him, she realizes that he's gone.

Max Mercury is alone when he fades away.

He's working on an experiment in his homemade laboratory with the bunson burner barely turned off, chemical bubbling in the glass. Max frowns over his results before he slips the chemical into another glass, mixing it with a reddish liquid.

It seems he needs a second opinion, so he picks up the phone and dials the Atom for some help organizing theories from most likely to least likely.

“Hello? Max? Hello?” His phone sits on the floor abandoned.

Johnny Quick is on a rescue mission when he vanishes.

There's an apartment complex on fire and he's racing through the flames with the last one who had been stuck inside – a child. “Ssh..” he soothes the child as he halts outside the apartment in the chaos of the firefighters and the rescue crews. “You're okay,” he says as he hands her to a paramedic.

The child has some smoke inhalation and her clothes are most likely going to go straight into the trash. The mother is thanking him profusely as the paramedics hoist her into the ambulance.

“Awesome job as usual,” a police officer tells him, ignoring the blatant noise of the media and their filming of the event. Johnny shrugs and smiles. “As long as no one was seriously hurt I count it as a win.”

The police officer turns to look at the apartment which seems to be smoldering as firefighters have got it under control. “Looks like we can breathe easier now, huh – Qui – Huh!?”

The hero is gone. The officer looks over at a reporter. “Did you see what happened?”

Several open jawed stares meet him. “He just.. vanished.”

The last Speedster to disappear is Flash, who was actually in the cafeteria on the Watchtower.

“Seriously, guys. Luthor couldn't have waited two more hours? Wally was looking forward to watching the newest episode of Avengers together, but no~” Flash complains as he stuffs a slice of pie in his face, upset at the memory.

“Well, at least you got a good punch in, right Flash?” Green Lantern tries to soothe Flash's irritation.

“If that doesn't cheer you up, remember how Luthor invited Diana to dinner when were about to hand him over to the police?” Flash cracked a smile at the memory. “Most epic rejection in history,” he remarked with a grin.

Everyone at the table snorted at how Diana had turned her head and gave Luthor a once over, then a twice over and just told him that she 'didn't see anything appealing about having dinner with him' and had proceeded to ask the police chief if he wanted to go to dinner with her.

Flash gets up to grab another slice, or a whole pie, whichever. “Anyone else want more?” He asks, but they wave off his offer. No one eats as much as he does.

Green Lantern changes his mind a few seconds later and looks up to find Flash and tell him. “Hey Flash, I -” A lunch tray clatters as it hits the floor with a few slices of now misshapen pie.

“Flash?” Green Lantern frowns and notices how all the other heroes are now looking around, starting to worry after seeing the abandoned dessert. “Did anyone see where Flash went?” They shake their heads.

“Shit.” Flash was gone.

Green Lantern abandons the cafeteria, followed closely by Hawkgirl and Green Arrow. They skid to a halt in the main control center. “Batman!” Green Lantern calls to the dark knight, who turns minutely. “We were having lunch with Flash and he got up to get pie when he just,” Green Arrow pauses for a moment with a worried look. “Vanished?”

Green Lantern nods and Batman frowns with a small look of worry. “J'ohn,” he says into his comm, “Do a mental sweep of the tower. Look for Flash.”

Batman pulls up the security footage of the cafeteria and is beginning to look through it when he hears an emergency line screech. _“Robin to Batman, come in.”_

“Batman here, what's wrong?”

“ _It's Kid Flash. I don't know what happened but he just disappeared in the middle of a battle with the Rogues.”_ Robins voice sounds anxious and frazzled and the heroes are rapidly feeling the same way themselves.

“Keep looking around the area,” Batman orders. “We'll check it out from here, but Robin,” he hesitates with instantly puts everyone listening on alert. “Flash is gone too.” Similar reports are coming in regarding the three other Speedsters as well. “All the Speedsters are.”


	2. Unbelievable Reasons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With some unusual energy readings as a clue, Rogues and heroes alike find themselves at an origin point and who steps out other than their missing Speedsters with an unbelievable story to tell.

Seconds after Batman stated that all Speedsters had disappeared, things moved lightning fast. Green Lantern was on the comm system putting out an emergency message to all available Leaguers and directing them to each Speedsters' last known location.

Superman began searching the world by air, while J'ohn searched by psyche. Everyone was starting to worry.

The Young Justice team was ordered to remain in Central City and check it out. _“Make sure you look over any unusual levels of energy,”_ Batman reminded them. “Got it,” Robin replied as the connection cut off.

“What's going on?” Captain Cold asked, voice hard and demanding. He was practically radiating dangerous concern and it was one thing to fight the Rogues and a while other thing to deny them one of the few things more important than a heist – Kid Flash.

Robin hesitated for a minute, sharing a worried look with the rest of the team before he breathed out, “They're all gone. All the Speedsters just vanished.”

Hero and Rogue alike couldn't hide their own shock at that statement.

“Batman's ordered us to remain here and keep looking for any signs of what happened. The League is checking the other Speedsters' last known locations and everywhere else. But.. as far as we know, they're just.. gone,” Robin shuddered as he delivered the terrible news. If he was freaking out inside, he could only imagine how freaked out everyone else was.

Trickster whined with concern. “Baby Flash is gone,” he wailed in despair. The other Rogues look similarly disturbed.

“He's not gone,” Cold ground out. “He's just missing. He can't be gone.”

Piper wrapped an arm around Trickster's shoulder making small shushing sounds and telling him it'd be okay.

“Sam,” Cold called out, “check the mirror world for any sign of Flash or the kid. Everyone else, split up and search Central.” Cold looks at the heroes and eyes them. “You coming or what?”

The heroes blink for a second before nodding in the face of Cold's rising irritation. They'd heard of what happened to Blaze and Razor and how they were beaten without restraint for what they did to their friend. Frankly, they more than support what the Rogues did, they just don't want that same fury directed towards them.

Rogues and heroes like split up to search the city, radioing each other once they had cleared a section of the city because the Rogues were somehow able to hack into their comm systems, something that Batman was most likely going to look into later.

It took two hours and they had nothing. They gathered together where Kid Flash had first disappeared, faces full of disappointment and weary worry.

“Robin to Batman,” he said into his comm.

“ _Batman here. Anything new?”_

Robin frowned. “Some odd energy readings but other than that, we searched the whole city with the Rogues and we got nothing. Mirror Master is still checking other places through reflective surfaces, but nothing so far.”

“ _Send me a copy of the energy readings.”_

Robin punched in the terminal location and sent his findings to Batman's own system.

“ _We picked up the same readings on the Watchtower where Flash disappeared. The readings were also present at Jay Garrick's house, Max Mecury's laboratory, and the last spot anyone saw Johnny Quick.”_

Robin swallowed a wave of concern. It was starting to look like something had taken them. “And J'ohn?”

“ _.. J'ohn hasn't found any of their mental signatures on Earth. We're considering sending Lantern to Oa to see if he can find out anything.”_

“You think it might be some alien race that took them?” It was an intriguing idea, but if they weren't on Earth.. Well, there was still the idea that they could be in the past or future. Considering there were no temporal situations, perhaps less likely than being kidnapped by some alien race.

Everyone was hearing only the one side of his conversation with Batman, but what they could hear, they weren't liking.

“ _We're not sure yet. We'll wait a little while longer before we send out a space search party.”_

Robin nodded slowly. It made sense. Perhaps it was just a matter of being in the wrong time. He really wanted it to be that. At least then they'd be on Earth and not in the clutches of some species somewhere in the depths of space that they couldn't reach.

“Robin!” Robin whipped his head over to see Kaldur calling him, holding the energy reader. “Picking up those same energy waves,” Kaldur told him, voice calm yet urgent.

“Batman,” Robin spoke hurriedly. “Picking up those energy readings here.”

Batman's response was not so hurried, but did not sound any less urgent. _“None of the other locations having any energy spikes.”_ There was an anxious lull, as he presumed Batman was using the time to put out a call to other Leaguers. _“We're on our way there. Stay cautious.”_

“Roger that, Bats,” Robin flipped the comm off.

“Everyone back away from the core,” Cold commands as he hears Kaldur mutter where the readings are originating from.

They slowly walk away from the origin of the readings as the energy increases and becomes visible. Red energy swirls around in the air like ripples on the water's surface and despite their distance, they can feel discharged heat.

They remain motionless, eyes trained on the energy for ten more minutes as it gradually picks up to wave frequency and power before Batman and other members of the Justice League arrive. “What's the situation,” Batman immediately asks upon arrival with Green Lantern and Green Arrow at his back as J'ohn and Superman focus on the energy.

“The energy's been gradually increasing since we first picked it up,” Robin explains.

Mirror Master slips from a reflective surface – a shop window – and takes his place at the side of the Rogues, who are tense with readiness. Cold has his cold gun at the ready, jaw tight with irritation. He's not liking how Batman and Robin are chit chatting while the Kid is missing. 'At least his team looks anxious enough,' Cold reasons as he sees agitation building in the young heroes.

“Batman!” Every looks at J'ohn and Superman, who motions towards the now crackling energy. “Something's happening!” As if it weren't obvious, everyone takes a few more steps back as the energy leaps to life and circular white light shines from it's core.

“Get ready,” Batman commands, stance more than prepared to fight whatever comes through. Rogues, Young Justice members, and Justice League members are similarly prepared and their muscles are coiled to fight and defend against who, or whatever comes through the portal.

Seconds tick by with increasing tenseness before a small figure steps through the portal. It's followed by four other, taller figures.

“-- I told you not to try the yellow snake plant dish,” a familiar voice scolds.

“But they offered it and it's rude to refuse,” another familiar voice says, sounding embarrassed and sheepish.

“Seriously, Uncle B, haven't you always told me never take strange yellow snake plant food from strange aliens?” Everyone blinks, frozen as they recognize the five figures now.

Flash looks slightly like a child in time-out with a pout on his face. “But, but -”

Johnny Quick looks less than amused, while Max has a penetrating glare at Flash. Jay looks amused while Kid Flash is rolling his eyes.

“No, you should know better than to try strange alien foods that try to eat you in return,” Max continues to scold Flash, who looks more than defeated as he sighs, “Yeah, yeah, message received.”

“In the first place,” Kid Flash interrupts, “how weird was that? I mean it was pretty cool, but totally weird. We were all in the middle of something and you think they could ask before they randomly kidnap us. The least they could do is offer us candy or something first,” he rambles. “I mean _I_ was busy fighting the Rogues who -”

A cough halts Kid Flash's rambling and he freezes, looking over at the origin. Captain Cold has his arms crossed and looks like he just caught his kid out passed curfew. “Who are totally staring at us,” Kid Flash continues, shrinking as he waves a little. “Hi guys.”

Batman looks similarly cross, while the others look more relieved than anything. “Baby Flash!” Trickster throws himself at Kid Flash, who stumbles a bit at the impact but is steadied by Jay.

They look fine, a little.. sparkly with some kind of glittering dust on them, but otherwise okay.

“What happened,” Batman demands as he stalks over to Flash, who rubs an elbow nervously. “Um,” Flash coughs, nervously, “Funny story, really. I mean, it's not hilarious, although it could be. It's more normal than funny if you think about it from another perspective and it's just --”

“Flash,” Cold grits out. “What. Happened.” Batman gives Cold an approving look as Flash shifts, fidgeting.

“We were abducted by aliens!” Kid Flash bursts out, grinning from ear to ear with excitement with Trickster hanging onto him.

Jay, Max, Johnny, and Flash crack a smile at the young Speedster's enthusiasm. The elder heroes and Rogues are frowning with contemplation as they process Kid Flash's words while the younger heroes just look confused and slightly amused at their companion's outburst.

“Aliens?” Robin questions with a smile.

“Speedster worshipping aliens!”

Cold and Batman raise an eyebrow at the elder Speedsters who just smile sheepishly. Green Lantern appears to be paying rapt attention as he mentally flips through his knowledge of other races, trying to find one that fits the description.

It's going to be a long, _interesting_ story when they remember the “yellow snake plant dish” they overheard and maybe they'll pay closer attention to their Speedsters for a few months than normal, but for now, they're just happy to have their fleet-footed heroes back.

“Speedster worshipping aliens”… Ha! Surely that can't be the reason they were all panicked and searching for the Speedsters. … Could it?

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, noone was expecting this I'm sure (I think), right? Hahaha! I wasn't expecting it either, but I wanted to have a funny kind of ending for it. Maybe my brain's addled but this is what I came up with.
> 
> Let me know what you think. I might add an alternate ending chapter or something depending upon responses.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is two parts.. It's an idea I had before I posted the previous work in the series, so yeah. Anyways. (I'm pretty stuck on all my other works and the two new works that I started - totally great idea, shoot me.) I totally had a migraine while I was trying to write the three fanfics I was working on today so this might suck and it's short, but it is only part one so... sorry if it's terrible.
> 
> What do you think is going to happen?


End file.
